Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence

This essay discusses the issues of corruption, misconduct, and incompetence in policing. It explores the ethical issues faced by police officers during investigations and the importance of accountability in preventing corruption and misconduct. The essay argues that police accountability is crucial for maintaining public trust and upholding law and order in society.

RUNNING HEAD: CORRUPTION, MISCOUNDUCT AND INCOMPETENCE
0
Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
Essay
Student Name
4/2/2019

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
1
Introduction
Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence in policing is major problems seen in current
scenario. Corruption is defined as a criminal act helping an individual at a delegated position
(authority given by public or private organization) to acquire illicit benefit is known as
corruption. Activities such as bribery and embezzlement are included in corruption and
considered as major misconducts (Hope, 2016, p. 13). These concepts are different in many
aspects in policing and on the basis of these concepts some ethical issues are faced by the police
while investigating the cases are discussed with examples. The ethics are defined as the code of
conduct under which any government bodies or professional bodies work in order to bring the
harmony in system and violating the rules and regulations in some parts will lead to misconduct
in policing. The essay consists of ethical issues in investigation and importance of accountability
during the investigation.
The essay will argue that police accountability is significant to ensure that the police
officials do not get involved in corruption or misconduct which could deteriorate publics’
reliance over the law and order upheld in the society. Several instances will be used to
demonstrate the repercussions of corruption/misconduct and less police accountability.
Viewpoints of several authors would be used to portray the importance of accountability. Being
accountable for something means, to be obligated for proving justification for the actions
undertaken.
Task: 1
Corruption is the misappropriation of power by an individual whether it may be a
politician, policemen or civil servant for the personal gain or needs. Factors such as greed of
money, luxury, or power lead to corruption (International, 2019). Police corruption includes
using power and authority of the designation to get personal benefits. Corruption in police
department involves getting material gains illegally by using the authorities assigned to the
person in department and mainly includes taking bribe, pressurising other, supporting illegal
things for personal gain such as selling of drugs or protecting the thefts. A policeman accepts a
bribe in exchange for a political gain or favor; providing favor in exchange of personal benefit
which would be in the form of goods or money is not a part of the job description (Thompson,

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
2
2013, p. 16). One can demand foreign trips, sexual favors, or employment for the family
members to fulfill the individual’s needs and desires, these deeds cannot be justified with reasons
as they are not the conduct that has to be upheld by a person on duty. Officers can take gains
which has judicious standards, but those who hang on the government offices in order to satisfy
and enrich themselves calls allegations on ethical or illegitimate activities (Kobis, Van, &
Vanlange, 2016, p. 74).
Misconduct is doing intentionally the wrong things, unlawful conducts that is not
acceptable in a particular surrounding (Albrecht, 2017, p. 35). Generally misconduct is
considered as an improper or unusual behaviour of a person which resultant in damage to the
society and person. Ethical conduct is necessary in police department because they have greater
power and authority to do the multiple roles in a democratic society. Police officers constantly
see themselves in the middle of wide range of ethical problems due to misconducts done by
them. The person who is responsible for breaching police code of conduct in departments causes
high damage to their particular agencies and that affect in the parts of trust of public on police
departments, morale of the department and overall community relations. There are varieties of
reasons of misconduct including from breaching of rules and regulations of the department to
constitutional breaching of federal law (Porter & Prenzler, 2016, p. 372).
Incompetence is an inability to do the responsibilities as per standard or lacking behind
the basic skills and ability to do something as it is to be done. Incompetence in policing is seen as
the inadequacy in dealing or completing their obligations and duties assigned. The satisfactory
performance of police office is important in order to deliver the quality policing services to the
community or society and an incompetent police officer is unable to perform well their duties
and responsibilities or is unable to adhere to its job role (Perez & Moore, Police Ethics, 2013, p.
218).
The concept of corruption and misconduct is somehow different but used
interchangeably. Corruption is mainly related with dishonesty in public office for personal gain
whereas misconduct is breaching of ethical code of conduct of legal body that is framed by
professional bodies or intentional wrongdoing or improper behaviour. Misconduct is done
intentionally or unintentionally but corruption if done is considered as the major crime that a

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
3
person do for their benefit. There are different motives of each individual behind wrongdoing
that susceptible to corruption. Whereas incompetence is related to the inability of doing the work
as per expected by the person which is considered as a part of misbehaviour in the policing.
Task: 2
Ethics is an important part in policing as it defines the difference of wrong and right doing in the
course of action. Ethical principles are set to limit the person to do what in right in respect of the
public interest and to violate this ethical code leads to damage to the public trust and also
damages the law enforcement ability to work within the community and to continue its mission
(Perez & Moore, Police Ethics, 2013, p. 15). During the investigations police face many ethical
issues due to their engagement in misconduct or corrupted activities and because of
incompetency to deal with investigation process.
Some of the unethical things done while investigating the case by polices includes the following:
a) Police officers most of the time being biased in investigating the case and allow their
personal feelings and emotions to interrupt. For an instance creating evidence to save the
person who is their friends or family.
b) When a police officer accepts some form of materialistic gain by taking advantage of
their position and use it for their personal use, it would unethical and immoral for that
official to deed this kind of activities while acting at the position. This would be the
misuse of power obtained by the government which was supposed to be used for the
public welfare. This is called corruption of authority or law (Chanin, 2015, p. 175).
Police officials are supposed for work for the public, not for their personal desires; these
kinds of acts will degrade the societal law and orders.
c) While investigating a case, political person bribes the officer to close the case even when
all evidences are against the person and victim can get the justice, still because of their
personal benefit officer took bribe and support the crime which is totally an ethical issue
of corruption.
d) Ethical issues in police investigation includes creating evidence in support of person,
misrepresentation of facts in court, biasness in investigating the case, lying in civil
proceedings, involving other officers or supervisor in misconduct (Dandurand, 2017, p.

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
4
305). For an instance, A misconduct was executed by the Ferguson Police Department;
personnel were regularly untruthful to the officials about the case, and when authorities
found the misconduct, the personnel were suspended for 12 hours which in fact is also a
part of police misconduct, since the punishment was not according to the rules and
regulations upheld in the police department (Halt, 2019).
e) There are many cases in which a police officer might engage in corruption while
investigating. In undercover operations it is essential for an officer to create a bond with
the suspect to know the truth and in performing their duty the officer may commit a crime
or misconduct such as handling drugs, or handling restricted dangerous weapons all this
situation leads to police officer commit a misconduct in his investigation and considered
as ethical issue (Porter & Prenzler, 2012, p. 15).
f) An ethical issue that majority of police officers face in investigation is misuse of their
power, emotional abuse and harassing the suspect to get the result which is consider as an
unethical deed performed in investigation. It is one of the grave issues that are upheld in
policing that could devastate the law and order in the society and people would lose faith
in law and order in society (Albrecht, 2017).
g) One of the ethical issues officers faced at the time of investigation is profiling. It is
become critical for the police to give their judgement in solving the case in best possible
manner as they have to work according to the belief of society and sometimes these
assumptions and stereotypes resultant in unfair or unethical profiling cases.
Police officers while performing their duties and obligations mainly at the time of
investigation of cases faced so many ethical issues that involve them in some misconduct such as
corruption, breaching of law, or inability to handle the cases that can be harmful to their lives or
leads to drastic changes in their career. Some of the issues related to unethical behaviour in
investigation are lying or misinterpretation of proofs in legal proceedings, biasness in profiling
the cases, dissolving the evidences because of political pressure, violating the religious beliefs,
emotional abuse, psychological harassment and many of time getting personal benefits from
investigations all that issues are done under misconduct or corruption.

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
5
Task: 3
Accountability and responsibility work together; When an individual is accountable, it
means they would be responsible for someone or something that done by them, and they would
also be accountable for the deed. In other words, to be accountable means having a commitment
to clarify or report something. Accountability does not include any aspect of the power or
authority of the person who is accountable, but the person is expected to justify his liability.
While police accountability involves police officers being liable for delivering fundamental
services for controlling the crime in society and upholding law and order as well (Sabel &
Simon, 2016, p. 170).
Holding police accountable is one of the prime necessities to uphold the prominence of
law and order in society. Referring to the ethical issues that are mentioned above, police officials
usually get involved in misconduct because of a lack of accountability. If police officials have a
sense of obligation and force from their higher authority, they would not get involved in any
such activities (Walker & Archbold, 2013, p. 102). The Ferguson Police officers involved in the
above case is accountable to explain and justify his actions of untruthful presentation of evidence
and he should be penalized according to the police rules and regulations and held accountable for
their action (Harris, 2012, p. 242).
As per ethical issues that were faced by the police officers while investigating the cases
they should be accountable for their actions. Effective police accountability includes identifying
and punishing those who have committed misconduct and take the accountability after the act or
action. While investigating if any crime is happened or any injustice is seen police officers have
liability to accept or being accountable for the action during their course (Boags, King, &
Williams, 2017, p. 15). In considering above examples police officer was corrupted or did any
misconduct such as lying in court or misleading the evidence that is the responsibility of officers
to being accountable for their misconduct in their case investigation or otherwise whole
department will be accountable of wrongdoing and accountability is not only limited to the
actions but it means that the whole police department is accountable to the society at large to
maintain the security and to control the crime rate in an effective manner with full responsibility
and integrity.

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
6
Task: 4
Accountability ensures that the police officers and other law enforcement agencies
involved in an investigation process have the responsibility to deliver best services to control
crime and maintain law. Holding police officers accountable would guarantee transparency in
each and every process (Cordner, 2016, p. 18). Police should be accountable in investigation
because they have responsibilities to serve the society in order to protect them and to reduce the
crime publicly. Holding an accountability of investigation brings the fair judgment and make
them person responsible for the act or actions or result of investigation. In many cases
investigations are done for personal benefits or on wrong profiling all these cases will be reduced
if a person held responsible for their actions in the department. That will bring transparency
make police force competent and resultant in less corruption and misconduct.
Police should always be accountable for their investigation in order to reduce the
misconduct in the department and to stop them using their power and authority in wrong manner.
It is considered as important aspect to think over and make them police officer accountable for
their investigations, actions during investigations, and for the evidence and result that helps in
getting the competent policing and brings more chances in the behaviour of police as well as in
the trust of public. As at investigation police officers have to take some judgement that for that
police officers were held accountable for their opinion, misinterpretation and misconceptions in
order maintain the legal bodies strong and trustable.
Therefore, police should be held accountable in the investigation process through which
maximum transparency and integrity would be attained. In fact, police officers should not be
provided with full liberty of operation, as police officials who seek to attain full liberty would
lack integrity and honesty. Apart from these facts, accountability ensures that no innocent people
are targeted during the course of investigation process and police officials are performing their
duty in order to the requirements of the society (De Angelis & Wolf, 2016, p. 240).

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
7
Conclusion
Corruption and misconduct is mainly doing wrong for the personal benefits. It is
concluded from the above understanding of concepts that misconduct can be done intentionally
or unintentionally, off duty or on duty by the officers and all that things will definitely affect the
belief and trust of the communities on policing. In some cases or investigation police officers
face challenges related to ethical issues which engage them in the misconduct, breaching of laws,
corruption and make them incompetent in respect of their roles and responsibilities. Police
corruption and misconduct is a threat to the law and order of the society which is a grave issue in
most of the police departments, it devastates the law and order in the society and people lose
faith in the legislative system. Therefore, it is important to make them accountable for their
investigations and actions in order to bring transparency, integrity and to reduce the corruption,
misconduct and wrongdoing in the system. It is also understood from above study that police
accountability brings positive result for the society as well helps in improving the system.

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
8
References
Albrecht, J. F. (2017). Police Brutality, Misconduct, and Corruption. Australia: Springer
International Publishing .
Boags, N., King, J., & Williams, M. (2017). Police accountability in Australia: Complaint
mechanisms and civil litigation. Policing and Society, 14-19.
Chanin, J. M. (2015). Examining the sustainability of pattern or practice police misconduct
reform. Police Quarterly, 163-192.
Cordner, G. W. (2016). Police Administrtation. London: Routledge.
Dandurand, Y. (2017). Police integrity management in Australia: global lessons for combatting
police misconduct. Police Practice and Reserach: An International Journal, 305-307.
De Angelis, J., & Wolf, B. (2016). Perceived accountability and public attitudes toward local
police. Criminal justice studies, 232-252.
Halt. (2019, April 1). 10 Examples of police misconduct to refer to case. Retrieved from halt.org:
https://www.halt.org/10-examples-of-police-misconduct-to-refer-to-for-your-case/
Harris, F. (2012). Holding police accountability theory to account. Policing: A journal of policy
and practice, 240-249.
Hope, K. R. (2016). Police Corruption and Police Reforms in Developing Societies. New Yorl:
Taylor & Francis Group.
International, T. (2019, April 1). How do you define corruption? Retrieved from
Transparency.org: https://www.transparency.org/what-is-corruption
Kobis, N. C., Van, J. W., & Vanlange, P. A. (2016). Prospection in Individual and Interpersonal
Corruption Dilemmas. Review of general psychology, 71-85.
Perez, D. W., & Moore, J. A. (2013). Police Ethics. Australia: Delamar Cengage Learning.
Perez, D. W., & Moore, J. A. (2013). Police Ethics. Australia: Delmar Cengage Learning.
Porter, L. E., & Prenzler, T. (2016). The code of silence and ethical perceptions: Exploring
police officer unwillingness to report misconduct. Policing: An International Journal,
370-386.
Porter, L., & Prenzler, T. (2012). Police Integrity Management in Australia. US: Taylor &
Francis Group.

Corruption, Misconduct and Incompetence
9
Sabel, C. F., & Simon, W. H. (2016). The duty for responsible administration and the problem of
police accountability. Police and Society, 166-173.
Thompson, D. F. (2013). Two concepts of Corruption. London: Edmond J safra working papers.
Walker, S. E., & Archbold, C. A. (2013). The new world of police accountability. UK: Sage
Publications.